Blog, News and Articles

Yo…..(and by Yo, I mean Welcome....of course).

The idea behind Becoming Uberman started as a platform for personal development. As an advocate for self growth, I wanted a vehicle through which I could share my experiences on the path to becoming the best version of myself possible.

Then I realized I wanted BU to have a bigger impact than that. See, there are many topics that help shape the way we view the world. We are not narrowly steered by only one concept. In light of this, I decided that the site should be more robust. It should touch on many subjects that all can be related, heavily, or loosely, to our growth as individuals.

So just like that BU was to become a lifestyle blog.

Not another one of THOSE. News flash guy….Tim Ferriss already did it. And he did it way better than you.

True…but my goal for Becoming Uberman was to create a site that is better than your average lifestyle blog. I wanted this blog to be a daily archive of the most profound thoughts as if it were written by Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin and Jesus Christ himself.

Then I realized that might be a bit lofty of a goal (besides, I’ve read some of Jesus’ work, and it doesn’t interest me that much).

What could I possibly have to offer of that much value anyway? If you look at a lot of the lifestyle blogs out there today, you see guys backpacking across the world and writing about their adventures with the indigenous tribes of South Caribbean Pigmy cannibals. Or you see people up close and personal interviewing the likes of Matt Mullenweg, Biz Stone, or that guy from Youtube with the golden voice.

Meanwhile on the other side of Metropolis….I don’t socialize with anyone really, and I haven’t been out of the tri-state area more than twice in my life. However, I assure you I AM UNIQUELY QUALIFIED TO BLOW YOUR MIND.

I Was Blind, but Now I See

I have learned it is all about perspective. I realize I learned this lesson when I was a teenager and my really good friend Joseph Campbell (not THAT Joseph Campbell but the OTHER Joseph Campbell) told me a story about a “special” kid he went to school with. See, I was discussing the handicapped or otherwise dependant on others for survival and how their condition, which they have no control over, is so unfair (at that time I hadn’t fully embraced my atheism so I was looking for a reason). Joey regaled me in a tale about this mentally handicapped boy he went to school with. One day Joey caught him in the courtyard, eyes dangerously close to a nasty looking spider as it spun an intricate web. The boy stared, without moving, in utter amazement, totally oblivious to any danger he could be in by invading the space of a creature that bites with venomous fangs.

Joey said “At that moment I could tell that he saw something others didn’t. He had some kind of special insight into the world. Whatever went on in his head, it was fascinating.”

That stuck with me. I realize now that perspective can create all the adventure in the world. Who is to say that actually bobsledding down a mountain in Tibet (I don’t know if anyone actually does that, I’m just saying) will teach anymore valuable lessons to a reader than someone who can vividly sled down Mount Everest with a parachute and a cyborg sidekick never leaving the comfort of the refrigerator box in the garage?

So back to my blind story. I was legally blind at one point. No, I haven’t ever been like totally blind, but I was born with cataracts. Growing up it was uncool to wear glasses, so I dealt with the fact that my vision was 20/450 (from how it was explained to me, someone could see from 450 feet away what it would take me standing 20 feet away to see). I would hear my name being called and wave aimlessly in a random direction, but all of my friends seemed like beige blobs floating about. To see the chalk board I would have to painfully pull back at the corners of my eyes, creating a slit that somehow magnified my vision in a tiny area; enough to let me see the page numbers for our homework assignment.

It took a few years to figure out I had the cataracts. It took a few more to figure out there was something that could be done about it. Finally, when I was 18 years old the opportunity to have corrective surgery presented itself.

After the surgery my world changed forever. I never knew what green really looked like. I knew green, but it was always a dull, almost washed out green. After I took the eye patch off (placed over my eye during healing), the grass jumped out at me like Technicolor. The leaves on the trees were distinguishably outlined in the blue sky.

My favorite thing was the flowers. Pinks and reds and yellows just burst into colorful flames on the branches.

It truly is amazing what I was missing out on all my life and never even knew.

So what I have to offer you is a unique perspective on things. Sometimes insightful, sometimes wise, sometimes batshit crazy, but always genuine.

Which Brings Us Back to the Present

I am fully committed and determined to reach peak levels in physical and mental performance. I do this because I know I am capable, we ALL are capable, so Why Not? Why not experience, while we have this limited time on Earth, being the absolute best we can be?

While most of us are familiar with what it means to challenge oneself physically, mental fitness may be rather vague. I am not just referring to strategies to make you smarter or more perceptive (although, I do interest myself in those endeavors too). I am not simply talking about focus, mental fortitude, and memory. I am also talking about changing the way we look at the world (this is my poetic way of saying that a lot of this blog will be about seemingly random stuff and the way I look at things).

But really, this blog is about the journey. The journey to a more enlightened, more fulfilled, more awesome life (and self). I hope to inspire others to join me. I want this to be our journey together. Our journey to becoming legendary. I hope you can learn from me, and I want to learn from you. If we work together, there is no telling the heights we can reach.